THINGS OF NOTE
For the first time in decades, the U.S. and Russia have no limits on nuclear weapons
The world's two largest nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, no longer have any limits on their arsenals.
At midnight on Thursday, a 15-year-old treaty called New START expired, and with it, caps on the number of weapons the two sides could deploy on missiles, bombers and submarines.
Source: Geoff Blumeil and Charles Maynes. NPR, 5 February 2026. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5697382/new-start-nuclear-treaty-expired-us-russia
Global high seas protection treaty comes into force
A global treaty to protect the high seas has come into force. Over 80 nations have already ratified the agreement to gain control and preserve marine ecosystems far away from any beach or coast. It's one area of the world's environment that until today has been largely unregulated.
Source: DW News, 17 January 2026. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCPt5luPPw
These handprints may be the oldest cave art found yet
Handprints on cave walls in a largely unexplored area of Indonesia may be the oldest rock art studied so far, dating back to at least 67,800 years ago.
Source: PBS News, 21 January 2026. Retrieved from: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/these-handprints-may-be-the-oldest-cave-art-found-yet
The rise of the right in Latin America
The Venezuela incursion by the US might have strengthened populist candidates who are promising law and order to citizens alarmed by rising violent crime ahead of key elections.
Source: Michael Stott, Ciara Nugent, Joe Daniels, Jude Webber, and John Bartlett. Finanical Times, 27 January 2026.